As my grandmother used to say...." It struck me that other than the coffeemaker and being able to "jump" in the shower, things were a lot like grandma's day. Oh, and the alarm clock. Grandma got up with the chickens.

Surprise, surprise we have to make choices and balance our lives. Should this startle people who are all about choice. If you choose to be a biglaw lawyer you might have already learned that and if you didn't it's time you did. And what does living in the richest country on Earth have to do with it?

Ah, finally, positive progress. People do have choices. There is no legitimate reason why we should be exclusively motivated by material, physical, and ego gratification. It seems that the "progressive" and "liberal" reactive movements are being confronted by a diversity of reality. There may be hope for our society and humanity yet. Evolutionary dysfunction is not inevitable.

Actually, you can have it all, but you must plan for it with reason and patience. There is no instant gratification without consequences.

You can't have it all, where would you put it?- Stephen Wright.Seriously money is overrated. If you have enough money to be secure, the rest is just a question of what you enjoy and what you find challenging and fun. Working 20 hours a day while allowing others to enjoy raising your kids is not my idea of a good time.

It struck me that the story was not so different from grandma's day, especially with small children. Substitute a few activities and you've got grandma's day. Except grandma didn't have an electronic coffeemaker, or the opportunity to jump in the shower. Oh, and an alarm clock. Grandma rose with the chickens. Hell, even I did when we were still on the farm.

So what is this story about? That one is supposed to have this life with less stress? More money (nannies, etc.) could help that--if one wanted it that way.

The writer's grandmother said, "You can do anything for three months." For a lot of people, that means doing everything for three months and then doing it all over again...and again...and again....

I think this story was a whine. It might have been cathartic, but still a whine.

It felt like a repetition of the people who won telling everyone else to grin and bear it. I don't like the argument. To the extent it wasn't a personal attack, I apologize for calling you an unoriginal bitch.

Out here in CA, it appears the answer is to build trolleys, High Speed Rail Trains, and left hand HOV overpass lanes, all at great expense, and none which provide little to no traffic relief.

Here is my solution. My solution is to allow companies to bid for maintaining a regions infrastructure, and a certain amount of dollars is provided. The contracts are opened up for rebidding every number of years.

The only metrics for evaluation are the rate at which roads flow, and how well they are maintained.